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This infographic was submitted to us by Up Up & Away! It shows some fun information about the holiday and what Santa might have to go through to make it all happen.

While the infographic doesn’t use any data visualization, that seems to make sense here: many of the numbers are so large that using visuals instead of typography might not aid comprehension very much. The aesthetic and illustrations immediately read as “Christmas” so the look successfully matches the content. I also really like the consistent layout, with each section getting an equal amount of space on the design. The alternating background colors also help break up what could otherwise be a bit of a monotonous feel — but the palette stays relatively consistent throughout, which is a plus!

I would look at reducing the copy where possible, though. I love the bold main copy that tops each fact, but once the smaller subcopy comes in it feels less important to read that. If it were shorter (and maybe a touch larger) it would feel more important.

In all I’d give this infographic a B. It’s festive and fun to look at.

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Bulldog Digital Media passed us this in-depth infographic! Looks like if you aren’t yet planning for the holiday season, you might already be behind.

This shows an illustrated list of action items for each month in the 6 months leading up to Christmas. Each item has an associated image (“brainstorm” has a brain-esque cloud, the mobile phone callout is written on a mobile phone, etc.). It’s a useful tool if the viewer already knows and trusts the company hosting the infographic, but without sources or any stats to back up the “to-do” list, it’s difficult to judge who’s making the call that these are the right steps to take. Credibility is really important for any infographic, so be sure to back up your story as much as possible!

In addition, be sure to proofread carefully. There are a lot of instances of unnecessary capitalization and a few misspellings that also hurt the professional appearance of the graphic.

In all I’d give this infographic a C as it could use some work to be more successful!

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This is a fun way to get into the holiday spirit! Fun to see some Christmas classics lined up at the start of the IG. There’s lots of holiday imagery throughout (love the little bird with the winter hat).

That said, it is a little busy with the amount of icons and gradient effects on so many callouts. It’s best to pick a basic color palette and stick with it, allowing unique illustrations, typography, and colors their own balanced chance to shine, instead of trying to pack too much in with icons atop busy backgrounds.

Additionally there is no visualization of the data here: viewers have to read the numerals to understand the values, when pie charts or other creative data viz could be used instead. It also looks like there are a few typos throughout: “American Adults” should be “American adults,” “2. Displaying lights” should be “2. Displaying Lights” since all the others are in title casing, and more.

It would also be great to see an intro and conclusion on the infographic so that when it’s shared, everyone can have a bit of context on what they’re going to see before the content and what to think about at the end.

In all I’d give this infographic a C, as data visualization should be employed to reduce reliance on copy, and it could use a more harmonious aesthetic. Happy holidays!

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This infographic was submitted to us by CouponCodes4U.

There’s a few pieces of good data viz here, and lots of great Christmas-y information! I like the background image and the adorable illustrations. However, some inconsistencies and missed opportunities are bringing the infographic down.

Some types of proofing errors really stand out on an infographic. One of these is the choice to include or exclude periods from the end of data points and fragments. This seems to be overlooked in lots of infographics out there, including this one. There are also capitalization issues: “Who’s giving Gifts?” “Santa Claus facts…” “Milk & Cookies” etc. Words seem to be capitalized at random in subheadings.

The designer should also decide if they’re going to write out full numbers or abbreviate. In “Milk & Cookies,” 114.8m is followed by 229,522,718. Either the first number should be changed to 114,800,000 or the second number should be abbreviated to 229.5m.

Additionally, the “Santa Claus facts…” section only has one fact about Santa. With the population info, I thought it might be estimating the length of time it would take Santa to reach each house, but it didn’t seem to relate. That’s an example of a title that doesn’t really introduce what’s to follow.

There are many missed opportunities for data viz — although there are dozens of numbers in this IG, there are only 3 instances of data visualization. There are dozens of fun holiday-themed ways to visualize this info, so I wish I could see more creativity and visualization here. How about candy cane bar graphs? Santa’s sleigh drawing a line graph across the sky?

In all I’d give this infographic a C. It needs more data viz, better organization, and more careful proofreading to become fantastic.

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This infographic was submitted to us by Deals.org.uk and here is what they had to say about it:

“It might sound crazy to be publishing a Christmas infographic in September but believe it
or not, this is the month that many start their Christmas shopping. A leading UK
department store started their Christmas display back in July. All these facts and more
like the average amount spent per person each Christmas and the value of unwanted gifts
each year in the UK.”

I see a lot of positive elements in this infographic. Not only does it have some really intriguing facts, but it also has some nice data visualization. I particularly enjoy the graphics used for the statistic about the most popular day and time to shop online at work. One thing I would change about this graphic is how the sources are cited throughout. It would make a more cohesive design if the sources were left to be cited at the very end.

Also, the data about online shopping vs. attending church is visualized very nicely in this infographic. It also very data-driven and would make more sense than many if all the text was removed. The infographic has a cohesive design throughout, but the source icons take away from it and make it more confusing than it should be. Like I mentioned earlier, if all the sources were just cited at the bottom of the infographic, then it would be much more aesthetically pleasing.

As far as a letter grade, it would receive a B- from me. The data visualization, though better than many, could use some improvement. An infographic should still make sense when all text is removed and this one would fail to do that in several places. However, it has a nice layout and tells a story from start to finish, stating many interesting and relevant facts.

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This infographic comes from Confused.com, which helps people find car insurance and make the process less confusing. The infographic covers what it would cost to insure Santa, if he and his entire operation (cover your eyes kids) actually existed. The infographic includes real types of insurance mixed with insurance options that would only exist form someone like Kris Kringle, and has some funny stats and assumptions mixed in.

Ultimately, the infographic is OK at best. The design is minimal and there is a lot of blank space everywhere. The numbers fade in with the rest of the content, making it seem as if there isn’t really any data to take in at all. Also, there is no conclusion to the infographic. For instance, the infographic is titled “Santa’s Insurance Costs: How Much Would it Really Cost to Cover Santa’s Christmas Operation?” But the answer is not fully given. Yes, it shows cost of various insurance, but it doesn’t show a total at the end, so if someone is actually interested and desperate for an answer, they’ll have to pull out a calculator to get it.

It seems that around Christmas, there are a lot of infographics coming out that have to do with Santa and presume a great deal of information just to get a point across. While these infographics can be fun, they sometimes lack in value because the majority of the information is made up. At least this infographic provides some value, since it covers some true costs of insurance.

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This infographic is courtesy of Venere.com, an online travel agency where customers can book hotels, B&B’s, and apartments. The infographic delves into the facts behind Christmas, to show just how seriously many people take the upcoming holiday. Upon submitting the infographic, Venere.com had the following to say:

We wanted to collect some of the most interesting trivia and facts about this tradition, putting in some of the most typical desserts and adding also music curiosities. The infographic put USA on top of the average spend for presents with €520, seconded by UK at €474 and Spain with €383, or that the biggest Christmas present was in fact..the Statue of Liberty.

Take a peek at our list of fun facts about how the most important holiday of the year is a celebrated around the world!

Overall, the infographic is well put together and well designed. The one big issue is that the infographic requires a viewer to scroll both left and right to see everything. While it looks great on a small scale, it is not easy to read that small, so a viewer will have to enlarge it to actually review everything. At that point, things get really disconnected since it can’t be taken in just by scrolling in one direction. This infographic could have easily been laid out vertically for easier viewing.

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This infographic comes to us from KnowledgeTree and depicts exactly what it would be like if Santa decided to use KnowledgeTree to manage his long list of Christmas gifts. Upon submitting the infographic, KnowledgeTree had the following to say:

In order to more efficiently manage the millions of letters he receives from children, Santa is working with KnowledgeTree to implement a new cloud-based document management system. This will enable Santa to create a more streamlined work environment for his incredibly busy and merry teams of elves, and simplify what can be a chaotic toy specification, manufacture and delivery process.

This infographic illustrates Santa’s complex workflow which includes reviewing the millions of letters he receives, compiling the naughty and nice lists, and managing the logistical processes that need to be completed by Christmas Eve in order to fulfill the wishes of children worldwide on Christmas Day.

Overall, there are some pros and cons to the infographic. One huge pro is that it is 1024×768 pixels, which is the average screen size for most computers. This makes it very easy to take in. Another great aspect of this infographic is that it showcases the KnowledgeTree logo. Some downfalls of the infographic are that it is too text heavy with very little imagery. It also doesn’t include any real stats. That said, we’re not one to talk here at Killer Infographics, because while we do produce a great deal of data driven infogrphics for our clients, we have been known to put out a fun holiday related infographic here and there that is just meant to be funny and has no data to drive it (see Sexy Halloween Costumes that Shouldn’t Be). As such, the purpose of this infographic is to display the abilities of KnowledgeTree, which the designer does a good job of in a fun way.

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This infographic comes to us from All-In-One Garden Centre and features everything you ever wanted/needed to know about Christmas trees. Just in time for the holidays, the infographic shows different tree types in US vs UK households, where trees are grown annually, a brief history of Christmas trees, and more. Upon submitting this infographic, All-In-One Garden Centre had the following to say:

As Christmas comes flying around again we thought we’d shed some light on the world of Christmas trees. Most people who celebrate Christmas have a tree in their homes these days, but what do really know about them? We looked at: the most popular types of tree, where most trees are grown, whether artificial or real trees are most commonly bought and a size comparison of the most famous Christmas trees in the world. We’ve mixed in some interesting facts about Christmas trees too so hopefully there’s something for everyone here.

Overall, this infographic is OK, though I wish it provided more of a holiday related color pallet. They did do a good job of picking a topic that is timely, which should help with achieving some viral appeal, but is the information interesting enough?

In other news folks, this will be our only installment this week, as our team heads out to celebrate Thanksgiving and their long weekend (made longer by the Seattle snow storm).